


Keeping Watch

by anthologia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Jealousy, Keith's middle name is "I'm gonna fuckin' fight it" and you can't convince me otherwise, M/M, Self-Esteem Issues, implied/referenced PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7488387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthologia/pseuds/anthologia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s not like he’s oblivious. He knows that Shiro’s been acting weird, but Keith takes his actions at face-value: Shiro doesn’t like having unknown aliens on the ship. That’s fair. Keith isn’t thrilled about it, either, but it was Princess Allura’s call to further their diplomatic relations with a group that could potentially be important allies to them by escorting some of their ambassadors to another planet. So he deals with his suspicion by keeping an eye on them whenever he can.</p>
<p>He would have thought Shiro would be pleased by that, since he’s so worried about the potential for attack, too. But instead, he gets even more keyed-up and irritated every time Keith sees him. It’s really starting to suck, to the point where Keith’s basically just counting the hours until they get their ship back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Watch

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "For the prompts, maybe ["Wait a minute... are you jealous?"] with Keith x Shiro? With Shiro being the one that's jealous if you're down with that? Idk I see a lot of posts with Keith fawning over Shiro and not nearly enough of Shiro being in awe over his kickass little space boyfriend. Ya feel?"
> 
> Once again, I fail to use the exact quote in my story but whatever. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

He has no idea what’s going on at first.

It’s not like he’s _oblivious_. He knows that Shiro’s been acting _weird_ , but Keith takes his actions at face-value: Shiro doesn’t like having unknown aliens on the ship. That’s fair. Keith isn’t thrilled about it, either, but it was Princess Allura’s call to further their diplomatic relations with a group that could potentially be important allies to them by escorting some of their ambassadors to another planet. So he deals with his suspicion by keeping an eye on them whenever he can.

He would have _thought_ Shiro would be pleased by that, since he’s so worried about the potential for attack, too. But instead, he gets even more keyed-up and irritated every time Keith sees him. It’s _really_ starting to suck, to the point where Keith’s basically just counting the _hours_ until they get their ship back.

Hunk is the one to clue him in that there’s something more going on. He sidles up to where Keith’s leaning against the wall, casually keeping an eye on their guests, and whispers, “You know he’s totally jealous, right?”

Keith turns his head to stare at Hunk blankly. “What?”

“Shiro. He’s super-jealous right now because of that one alien chick who’s been hitting on you non-stop.” Hunk points at one of the aliens – Helna, maybe? he gets them mixed up, especially since all their names seem to be within a consonant or vowel of each other – who turns her head and stares pretty obviously back at them.

“She was what?” Thinking about it, she _was_ kind of… always present and overly talkative, but he hadn’t thought much of it aside from making a note to keep a distance from her whenever possible.

“Oh my _god_.” Hunk presses his palm against his forehead with a look of pain. “Just go reassure him that you’re still space-married or whatever. He practically bit Lance’s head off in training earlier, we can’t take this much longer.”

“Whatever,” Keith says because he’s really not sure what else there is to say.

 

He waits until they’re alone to actually bring it up to Shiro. “Are you jealous?”

“…What?” Shiro says, and Keith immediately flushes, embarrassed and annoyed at Hunk for putting the idea in his head because _of course_ Shiro isn’t jealous. What is there to be jealous about? Even _if_ he had the slightest interest in anyone other than Shiro, what other person in their right mind would be willing to put up with Keith?

“Never mind,” he mutters. “It’s stupid. I’m going to go to the training room.”

Shiro snags his wrist before he can get more than a few steps. “Keith, _wait_.”

Keith stops immediately and twists around so he can see Shiro.

“I’m kind of jealous,” Shiro admits.

“Why?”

“Because.” Shiro rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. “You’ve been spending all that time with Helna. And she’s pretty clearly into you, so…”

Keith stares at him, waiting for the conclusion. “So?”

“So I don’t want you to be into her, too.”

“That’s stupid,” Keith says automatically. “Why would I want to be with someone else? I’m with you.”

Shiro’s face goes through several expressions – frustration, relief, even what looks like amusement – so quickly that Keith has trouble identifying them all before they’re gone. Then he grabs Keith and pulls him up against his chest so that he’s held close, head tucked under Shiro’s chin.

“I don’t know,” he says, quiet enough that Keith can barely hear him, even as close as he is, “maybe because your boyfriend is a screwed-up, scarred wreck.”

“Don’t talk about yourself like that,” Keith snaps.

Shiro’s shoulders are shaking, and Keith panics for a moment, thinking that he’s crying, until he realizes that no, Shiro’s _laughing_. “Or what, you’ll fight me for bad-mouthing your boyfriend?”

“…Yes,” Keith mutters sullenly for lack of anything better to say.

(The truth is, if he c _ould_ separate out the parts of Shiro that make him scream at night and drag him kicking and screaming into his own memories, and just punch them until they stop hurting Shiro, he _would_. In a heartbeat. But that’s the kind of approach to psychological healing that got him kicked _out_ of therapy a couple times for being _too_ difficult to deal with, so maybe he’s not the best person to go to for that.)

Apparently it’s the right thing to say, at least, because Shiro just laughs louder and squeezes him tighter. “Okay, threat duly noted.”

“Good.” Keith pulls away just enough that he can press his mouth to Shiro’s. Then he pauses and adds, “Just so we’re clear, I’m not romantically interested in anyone else,” just to be on the safe side.

“Crystal clear,” Shiro assures him with a fond grin before leaning his head down to complete the kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> If you are interested in my fics and want more, I have an account at syntactition.tumblr.com where I have bits of stories that are currently in the works and other ficlets and stories that haven't made their way to AO3.


End file.
